Neil Shekhter of NMS Properties - The New Law to Ease California's Housing Crisis

Accessory Dwelling in Los
Angeles

March 18,
2018 / Jerry Brown, the governor of The Golden State,
California, in September approved a bill intended
to slow the astronomical rise in renting prices in Los Angeles
County. The bill acts as a potential solution to the lack of
supplies in certain areas within the county. The bill gives most
single family homeowners the option to build additional dwelling
units, sometimes referred to as back houses, granny flats or in-law
units on their property, Neil Shekhter points out.

Last February it was determined that Los Angeles homeowners had
been, for years, constructing these back houses using improper
permits. The February ruling left residents in a legal purgatory of
sort. The Los
Angeles City Council had agreed, based on the February
ruling, they would allow already constructed back houses to be
grandfathered in, while forcing any new construction to abide by
the new February ruling.

On December 30th the Department of City
Planning, who is responsible for the preparation, maintenance
and implementation of General Plans for the development of Los
Angeles, released a memo stating the February ruling is direct
conflict with the state law and should not be applicable, according
to Neil Shekhter founder and CEO of Santa
Monica-based NMS
Properties.

Now the question for homeowners is, ''what should we be doing
moving forward?'' Based on the Department
of City Planning's memo, homeowners should be able begin or
continue new construction on back house additions. The memo not
only shows last February's ruling is no longer applicable, it also
requires as of January 1st, homeowner's back houses must meet state
mandated requirements before successfully applying for permits.

While this is definitely a win for homeowners, and Los Angeles
residents collectively, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning
announced that they plan to implement much stricter requirements
for the construction of these back houses than those outlined in
the February ruling. The Los Angeles Department of City Planning in
December released their recommendations for new regulations for the
construction of back houses to the Los Angeles City
Council, Neil Shekhternotes.

Per Neil
Shekhter, the new requirements state accessory dwellings (back
houses) to be 640 square feet or 50 percent of the square footage
of the total square footage of the ''main house'' or which of the
two are the largest, up to 1,200 square feet. The problem for
residents is this arbitrary 1,200 square foot limitation
automatically limits the maximum size for the back houses. In
addition to the restrictive limitation on the size of the back
houses, it is looking like homeowners in Hillside Areas will be
restricted altogether from construction of any sort.

Launching NMS Properties in 1988, Neil
Shekhter assumed the role of CEO in January 1995. The real
estate management company focuses on multi-family and mixed-use
properties in the Greater Los Angeles area and in Santa Monica. At
present, NMS properties manage more than 70 properties.

Over the course of 2017, NMS deployed 40 furnished units in Los
Angeles, and Neil
Shekhter plans to increase that number in 2018. The
company currently manages some of its properties while testing a
pilot with MY
SUITE.